The First Adventure
by Sagefox100
Summary: With Sora, Riku, and Mickey busy it's all up to Lea and Kairi to take on a new adventure when trouble arises. But what exactly can an inexperienced princess of heart and a former adversary accomplish?
1. Chapter 1: Time Exploitations

**Author's Note: While not necessary to read this fanfic is canon with my other small story "Lea's Training Journal."**

Chapter one: Time Exploitations

Kairi and Lea were destroying pieces of furniture summoned by Merlin. Lea looked at the circular barrier slowly shrinking around them acting as a time limit; they weren't going to make it at this rate. He moved over to help Kairi destroy a large table. "How good are your barriers," he asked.

"huh.. Why?" She asked surprised.

"Think you could hold back the wall for a bit?"

"On it," Kairi stated. She ran to the border and cast her own barrier. A slightly visible reflective energy field glowed around her. She channeled most of the energy to the side stopping the wall. It only slowed at first but then it came to a halt. She watched Lea destroyed the remaining furniture. He was striking fast on all sides until the next piece broke. Four pieces left. "Come on.. hurry," she thought. Her magic was slowly dwindling on this.

After 40 seconds past and two more pieces destroyed Lea looked back at Kairi. She looked exhausted. It would be close but he thought he could make the time limit now. As he started with the next one he yelled, "That's enough, come back towards the middle."

Kairi broke off. She was feeling a bit light headed but started on the other piece, this one a sofa. She swung at it a few times but couldn't manage to do much because of her fatigue. She looked around. They had about a 15 feet diameter to work with now. Then Lea showed up and set the chair ablaze with a big burst of magic. A couple swings later it was done.

"Always cutting it close aren't you," Kairi said with a sigh of relief.

Lea allowed his keyblade to fade away too. "If you think this is close you have no idea. We had a good 15 seconds to spare."

"Oh-ho actually make that negative 25 seconds," Merlin said as he walked up to them.

"Come on, you're counting the time stopping the wall. Nothing says we couldn't do that." Lea complained.

"Oh but you did." Merlin injected summoning a scroll. "Remember signing this when I agreed to train you?"

"Well yeah but-"

"Section 8 clause II, 'As a student you agree not to disrupt the spirit of any training exercise or event instructed by me.'" Merlin read.

"We're sorry Merlin, but don't you agree that one reason we train is to learn to be more creative?" Kairi said.

"We'll yes."

At that, she quickly inserted "So then our actions follow 'The spirit of the training exercise' don't they?"

He sighed "Confound it, I'm getting too old for this. Okay, you can have this one. Take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow Master Yen Sid wants to talk to you."

"For what?" Lea asked.

"I don't know but I'm sure it will be interesting," Merlin said and vanished.

* * *

"Good job today, Princess" Lea commented while they were grabbing a tray of food. The room was a square shape with five small tables forming a pentagon. The food magically appeared on a stand in front of a room. Lea wondered where it came from.

"You're going to keep using that nickname aren't you," Kairi said with an eye roll.

"Hey, you're the one who told me."

"Someday I'll find out something out about you too," she half threatened. They say down with their food at the usual table. Kairi remembered the first day when they awkwardly sat a table away. But then that morning Lea approached her and apologized for kidnapping her. They talked about it and decided to start over. She was glad that was over. "That was a rough day; I could barely hold that wall back. Merlin must have powerful magic to do that and control the furniture at the same time."

"He probably had elixirs." Lea pointed out. He then had that mischievous facial expression Kairi knew all too well. "When we get out of here tomorrow we can probably smuggle you some for future group training. Let's see how much that annoys Merlin."

"Is there a particular reason why you want to make our instructor mad at us?"

"No, not really, I'm just evening the playing field. Also, don't deny that you want to see his reaction too."

"Alright fine, speaking about tomorrow do you have any guess why we are seeing Master Yen Sid."

Lea scratched his head. "I've been thinking about that too. I'm not even sure how much time has passed out there. It's been like two months since you arrived."'

"So like 18 days," Kairi said

"How'd you figure that?"

"I actually read those books Yen Sid gives us."

"Hey now, books are fine when you actually have a question but I just don't see the point of going through mountains of irrelevant facts," Lea said defensively; which was true. He tried to read on the relationship between a nobody and a heartless before. But that topic is so confusing that not even the writers seem to make sense of it and some things he knew were flat out wrong.

"Okay, if you say so," Kairi said.

"Anyways, Merlin said it would be 'interesting' I'll tell you right now interesting is always a bad sign," Lea stated a bit more grimly than Kairi was use to from him.

"Now don't go pessimistic on me. I get enough of that from Riku," she said.

"Alright, but come tomorrow you'll see I'm always right." He said.


	2. Chapter 2: Preparations

Chapter two: Preparations 

The next morning Kairi woke up early. Neither of them were normally morning people but she was early today. A change in routine did that to you and she was curious about what was happening in the outside world. Kairi was the first to leave her room followed by Lea a good half hour later.

"You ready to head out, Princess?" he asked.

"I've been ready sleepy." she said.

"Maybe that just means I work harder." He said and felt a twinge of recognition at the familiar conversation. He then continued "Well, we can probably go. Um… say did any of those books tell us how to leave this place?" As far as he knew they were in a magical book that suppressed the flow of time.

"I'm guessing we will have to wait for Merlin to let us out," Kairi said.

One hour later….

"We could try the corridors of darkness…" Lea said impatiently.

"You know we can't. I'm sure he will be here soon…."

Another hour…

"Okay, sorry about the training exercise. Can we go now?" Lea shouted in the air.

At that Merlin poofed in, "Now was that so hard."

Kairi glared at Lea. "How long did you know?"

"A bit over an hour ago but I thought Yen Sid would spring us."

"Well, you see I sped up time for your little world. What took hours for you happened in minutes." Merlin explained.

"That has to take a lot of magic?" Kairi questioned.

"Oh yes, quiet but for little short bursts not too bad. Now, where was I. Oh yes you have an appointment to catch," As he said that Kairi and Lea felt their bodies being ripped away from the book. Next thing they knew they were on the ground in a one room library. They watched Merlin put the book on a shelf.

"This whole time did you just leave us in a bookshelf," Lea questioned

"Problem?" Merlin asked.

* * *

"You asked for us, Master Yen Sid," Kairi said as they walked into his usual room at the top of the tower.

"Indeed, I have grave news."

"Isn't always" Lea interrupted and got elbowed by Kairi in the process.

"Indeed as of late." Yen Sid agreed somberly and continued.

"There are strange happenings in Radiant Garden. I see a barrier of some sort surrounding it. It is similar to the walls of light that normally separate worlds but stronger. The barrier is preventing anything not natural to the area from entering. Kairi and Lea, both of you are originally from Radiant Garden so it seems to reason the world will allow you entry. I need you to investigate and, if necessary, take action you deem appropriate."

Kairi looked at Lea. She had basically no memory of Radiant Garden but she knew it was Lea's home before. His arms were crossed taking in what Yen Sid was saying but his facial expression was unreadable.

"Alright, I'll go," he said simply.

"Me too, I've wanted to visit for a while anyways," Kairi added.

"Then it's decided, spend today preparing and then come back when you're ready." Yen Sid said while handing them a small bag of munny. He watched them leave the room.

They walked out of the room. Lea was honestly not sure what to think with the little information they had. There were a lot of unknowns in this. It could be anything to a simple recon to a battle for their lives. He looked at Kari and he knew he shouldn't do this but it was worth a try. "Hey Kairi, You sure you want to come? I can handle a little poking around myself."

"Of course I do. Do you not want me too?" She asked a bit hurt. She wondered if Lea didn't want her to come for some reason. _Did he think she would be a burden or something?_

"No, that's not it. I just don't see a reason for both of us to go. And what if Sora gets in trouble once again, someone should be here to pull him out." He said trying to recover.

"I told you I'm not staying on the sidelines ever again. I'm going this time. But if you think it's best you can stay." She said defiantly.

"Okay, you're right just a passing thought," he said raising his hands in a surrender gesture. That went about as well as he expected. Lea saw she relaxed a bit. He continued quickly. "Can you swing by the Moogle Shop outside and pick up basic supplies for the trip. I'll meet up with you in a bit."

"What are you going to be doing?" Kairi asked.

"You'll see," was all the explanation he gave and left with a hand wave.

Kairi watched him go in a direction towards nothing. Probably to keep her guessing then he would double back she figured. She went ahead down stairs going outside. She could never figure him out sometimes. Maybe that conversation was just about someone staying as a backup but she doubted it. Oh well, she would prove she could handle this one step at a time. She checked the money pouch and was a bit thrown off by how little it was.

Lea thanked the fairies and left the room. Now all he had to do was find Kairi and they would be almost ready to leave. The thought of leaving was now odd to him. He spent most of his time here in a book but still, it felt calm both here and there. But vacation was over.

Kairi found Lea on the stair case. "There wasn't too much money so I just bought us both two elixirs and two hi-potions each. That took a bit over half of our money but enough for an emergency," she said.

"Should be but there is something I want to show you first."

They stopped at the next level and walked into an abandoned old room. Lea pulled out a new cloak about her size out of the bag.

"You got me an Organization cloak? No offense Lea, but the organization is not really my style."

"You know not everything is for looks. They are helpful in keeping you hidden and repel darkness. But as you command princess," Lea said and snapped his figures and the cloak's color transformed to a floral design to match her keyblade around the bottom and edge of her sleeves. "Better?" Lea asked with a grin.

"How did you do that," Kairi asked looking at the newly transformed cloak.

"Well Flora, Fauna and Merryweather made it work and did most of the designing. So you have to ask them. But as it stands the cloak can change back and forth by the users will. Obviously, it won't protect your identity in this form but it still works as a shield against the darkness," he said.

"Thank you, Lea. I owe you one" She said.

Lea rubbed his head. "Eh, it was nothing. The fairies did most of the work. You should thank them before we leave."

After saying their goodbyes they went back up to see Yen Sid. He told them their ride was waiting back outside and behind the tower. Lea and Kairi both went together and saw it at the same time. They both heard of the gummi ships but neither saw one before in person. But as they started circling around the back of the tower they began to see it a bit at a time. It was a standard red rocket gummi ship but they were both still impressed by the massive size. Neither said anything as they boarded.

 **(Author's Note: It might be a good month until the next chapter. Blame college finals.)**


	3. Chapter 3: Flying and Landing

Chapter three: Flying and Landing

Kairi was piloting the ship hoping she was doing everything right. Normally the ship did most of the flying itself but with the lanes between closed off traveling was more difficult. They were able to summon a keyblade portal for most of the distance but they still had another hour to go. They would be arriving already but unfortunately, Lea made a slight impute mistake that sent the ship slightly off course for a half hour until either of them noticed. Kairi was watching out the main window at the star slowly coming to view as a world. It was odd to think that was her home world. It was a lot different than Destiny Islands. She then heard Lea walk up with two bowls of chip-like snacks.

Lea handed Kairi one of the bowls and sat in his own chair leaning back as far as the chair would let him. "This is a lot nicer than the corridors. Even if it's slow," he commented.

"Well, we would have been there already if some lazy head would have checked what they were doing," She pointed out.

"Got me there, But you got to admit the controls are confusing."

"Well considering Sora can fly it…" she said back.

"Now you are just out for blood," he said feigning a wounded expression. They both laughed.

* * *

"So that's what it looks like," she said as she could see more details. She then turned away from the window and asked, "Do you miss it?"

Lea thought about it for a second. "I have some good memories there but now home is where I am."

She nodded and just said, "That must be nice." She was glad to be out here, but at the same time, she was a bit homesick for Destiny Islands. She wondered if she would get used to being away like Lea seems to have.

"We should put on the cloaks," Lea said seeing that they were about ready to land.

Kairi nodded in agreement thinking it was a good precaution. She went to the back of the ship to retrieve it. While she slipped the black coat over her normal clothing she asked: "Do you think there will be trouble?"

Lea looked back at her to answer but the second he turned he saw someone else. Another girl that looked a bit like Kairi except with a more serious face and her hair was shorter and the color black. He felt a tug on his heartstrings that confused him. Then he heard Kairi say his name and she looked like herself again but he still felt the same emotion in his heart.

Kairi looked at him concerned. He was staring at her strangely and now looked disoriented. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, sorry." he said.

"What happen?"

Lea paused. They had enough to worry about right now and he didn't want to distract her from the task at hand. "It's just been a long day and I was a bit surprised by how different you look in an organization uniform... Anyways we have a world to get to," he said as he put the experience to the back of his mind for now.

She gave him a long look. Lea was too good at hiding what he was really thinking but she never saw him distracted at something before. She didn't buy it, but decided he was right now was not the time for whatever this was. "Alright let's go," she said. She checked her cloak it was in its normal plain form which she decided to keep until they knew what was happening. She then took her seat and piloted into the strange barrier.

At first, the ship started shaking from the turbulence but then the barrier opened up around them allowing them to pass. As they went further in the barrier closed behind them. When they were close enough the ship transported them to the surface.

Lea felt a bit disorientated for a few seconds but imminently noticed something was wrong. Some sort of electrical looking bars were forming around them. Making a cage that was about seven feet high and nine feet long. Seeing it was some sort of trap he put his hood over his head. He saw Kairi follow his lead. He slowly touched one of the electrical looking bars, and pulled back as it shocked him lightly. It hurt but it wasn't as bad as he thought. He was debating on forcing his way through.

Kairi was thinking of destroying it with magic but was worried the cage could reflect the spell back at them. She tried a small blizzard it hit and didn't seem to reflect. She then saw two figures approach from a distance. The taller one had a fairly large weapon she could see. Getting more frantic Kairi cast Blizzaga.

Lea saw Kairi freeze one of the walls solid the edges were rapidly repairing themselves. He reacted quickly, summoned his keyblade, and attacked the middle of the wall. It shattered giving them a way through and they both managed to escape.

Kairi saw Lea brandishing his weapon ready for a fight and saw the two figures running up to them. She recognized them from years ago. "Wait! Leon, Yuffie it's me." Kairi called out removing her hood.

Leon lowered his weapon imminently, "Kairi? Is that really you?"

Kairi was about to respond but Yuffie interrupted, "Of course that's her! What are you doing all the way out here?"

"We came to check on you. What's happening here with the barrier and that cage?" she asked.

Yuffie looked towards the ground and Leon answered, "They are defense systems to protect this world from the outside."

"You closed your own world away on purpose?" She asked.

Leon nodded, "Many of the people here thought this would be a good after we lost Radiant Garden to the darkness and then had the war with the heartless, at least for a while."

"But… now you're cut off from your other friends like Sora who help you through all that. You can't just abandon them."

Yuffie spoke up again. "We know, but ultimately it wasn't just us deciding. Finally, we settled on using it until Radiant Garden was fully restored to its old self. Then things could return to their natural state."

Lea could see Kairi was getting upset hearing this and intervened. "So who made the barrier and how does it work," he asked.

"We call the barrier the 'Planetary Light Shield.' It was made by the researchers at the castle; you would have to ask them how it works." Leon said.

"Thought so, Come on Kairi let's have a little conversation with them," Lea said.

"We can show you where," Yuffie offered trying to be helpful.

Lea looked at Kairi. She looked calmer but still, it was probably best if they could talk about this new information alone. "Nah I know the way. Besides it's hard to miss." He said pointing to the big structure in the distance that you could even see from the Plaza.

"Yeah, I guess so. Well if you want to meet with us before you leave feel free to," Yuffie said.

"If we have time," Kairi said politely. She was still a bit mad at this but decided to let it go. It wasn't really their fault either.

Lea and Kairi walked off together. When Lea was sure they were out of earshot from anyone he asked, "So, what do you think?"

"Well at least everyone is okay, but I don't like it. With Xehanort on the move, we should all be working together. Instead of preparing with us they are hiding. You?"

"Like it or not they are involved. No shield is going to change that. If the New Organization wants in they will find a way to bring it down. Even, Dilan, Aeleus, and Ienzo should know that though," he said.

"What do you think we should do," she asked.

Lea thought for a second, "Not much we can do. We can try to talk them out of it and when that fails we get all the information we can and report back."

"When that fails," Kairi repeated with a giggle over exaggerating his defeatist tone.

"We'll see but if anything was as simple as asking we would be out of the job." Lea joked.


	4. Chapter 4: Alone

Chapter four: Alone

Kairi saw the castle loom overhead as they approached. This area was by far the most damaged in Radiant Garden. There was very little plant life, the terrain was uneven and had craters scattered randomly around. The Castle looked mostly repaired but you could still see some battle-scarred areas.

Lea saw a guard overhead and recognized him as Aeleus. He took the lead knowing Aeleus would recognize him also. "What are you doing here?" he asked the two giving them a look a suspicion.

"Is that any way to greet visitors?" Lea asked grinning.

"I asked you a question."

"Yeah, yeah. Reason is your 'Planetary Light Shield' has attracted our attention."

"That was not the intent," Aeleus replied to Lea.

"Well, here we are. If you let us in we can ask our questions and be gone before you know it," he said.

"And who are you," he said looking at Kairi.

"My name is Kairi. I came..." She stopped as the door opened and Even came out. He gave her a look she didn't like. It was a half grin half smirk.

"Ah, yes Kairi one of the seven princesses of heart."

"How do you know me?" she asked.

"We've observed you for some time before you left this world," Even said simply.

Kairi wasn't sure how to respond to that. She was thankful when Lea interrupted the conversation.

"I assume the light shield was your invention," he said walking up to Even a bit closer than was necessary. Lea could make out a flash of fear in his eyes but Even kept his overall composure. He waited a moment for Evan to respond but after getting none he suggested, "How about you let us in and we can talk about it."

"Alright, if you must persist." Even said and waved them in.

Kairi, Lea, Even, Ienzo, and Dilan met in a rectangular room with furniture. Kairi made herself comfortable on a couch and Lea sat on the other side of it. The researchers each took a chair.

"What do you wish to know," Dilan said to the two indifferently.

Kairi quickly asked her question, "Why did you decide to make the Planetary Light Shield."

"Well in case you haven't noticed this world has suffered enough from interference. It's time we were on our own again," Dilan answered coldly.

"Being on your own won't help anyone. If Xehanort has his way it will affect all the worlds including this one. We should work together." Kairi countered.

"And that is your fight, not ours," Even said.

Lea sighed this was getting nowhere like he thought it would. "Fine. Then just explain how the shield works. Why does it let us through for example."

Ienzo delved into an explanation. "We used the world natural barrier and enhanced it with the MCP. In a way we reprogramed it to be stronger and fight against any being without a heart and body that was originally from this world. It also cuts connection to the corridors of darkness completely."

"So if someone is from here and not a heartless or a nobody they can enter," Lea summarized.

"That is correct," Ienzo answered.

"So, do I have to point out the two big holes in your plan or do you brilliant scientists know," Lea said putting a sarcastic tone in brilliant.

"If you are referring to Braig and Isa we are aware of course. But without being able to summon heartless or nobodies and their main travel access blocked we can handle the problem." Even said

"But what if you can't? If Isa and Braig come in and gain control they can use everything you made against us," Kairi said.

"We have precautions to prevent others from gaining control," Dilan said vaguely.

Lea shrugged, "Well if something does go wrong I'm sure you'll let us know. If there isn't anything you should tell us and we'll be on our way."

"That may be a problem," Ienzo said.

"Why," Kairi said confused.

"The Planetary Light Shield is also programmed to protect residents from leaving to prevent anyone from being taken away," Ienzo answered.

"Can you just turn it off for us to leave?" Lea said.

"Not an option. The shield would take days to turn back on which would leave us vulnerable to danger," Even said.

"We could try..." Ienzo started but was interrupted by Even who said, "We'll discuss options privately and tell you of our conclusions tomorrow."

Lea glanced at Kairi he wasn't opposed to waiting awhile and giving them a chance. In fact, there were a few areas in town he wanted to visit again. Once he saw Kairi nod he replied, "Fine, we will be back tomorrow evening. Don't disappoint us."

They left the castle together and Lea turned to Kairi and asked. "So, what do you want to do?"

"I'm going to visit Leon and Yuffie for a while. Do you want to come?"

Lea thought about it, but he didn't really know either of them and didn't want to be a third wheel. "Nah, I'll catch up with you later. Just don't cause any trouble, Princess."

She rolled her eyes, "Like I'm the one need to be told that."

Kairi had a good time visiting Leon and Yuffie. They spent most of the time exchanging stories about Sora. She heard most of it from Sora herself but hearing it from a third perspective was interesting. Kairi could tell as well as being friends they also admired his strength. Yuffie could not get enough of young Sora stories and their 'adventures'. After a while, when they ran out of topics, Kairi excused herself because she wanted time to look around on her own.

She spent the rest of the evening wandering around town randomly. The flowers, sounds, and smells felt familiar to her but she could not remember it no matter how hard she tried. Finally, she was tired of walking and found herself back in the center of town. She sat down on a bench watching the sunset. She remembered watching the sunset from the Island with Sora and Riku and found herself wondering how they were doing.

Lea spent his day visiting places Isa and him use to hang out. It's been awhile since he thought about those days. They felt unreal almost. So much has happened since then and thinking about Isa made him feel conflicted. They were once friends and he missed those times but Isa changed since becoming a nobody. And Lea had to admit their broken friendship was his' fault too. He chose Roxas over Isa more than once and joined the other side. Finally, Lea decided to stop dwindling on things that can't be changed.

After the sun had fallen Lea found Kairi at the Plaza and sat down beside her. He was about to ask if she wanted to go back to the ship for the night but then Kairi just stated, "There are no stars in the sky."

"I noticed must be an effect of the Planetary Light shield." He replied looking up at the pitch black sky. He had to admit it was a bit unnerving. A starry night sky was something all worlds had in common.

"It feels lonely, doesn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah, we'll be out of here soon though. Besides the sky though, how do you like this place?" he asked curiously.

Kairi paused to think then answered, "It's not what I expected but I'm glad I came. It's nothing like the Islands but it's a pretty world and it's good to know where I came from."

"We could stop at Destiny Islands on the way back. I've never seen much of it," he suggested thinking she would want to.

Her eyes lit up at the idea. She thought they would just go back to the Mysterious Tower after this but no one really said they had to and she didn't see any harm in it. "Alright, let's do it," she said.

He nodded, "Now, how about if we go back to the ship to get some sleep?" he suggested with a yawn.

"Yeah it's been a long day," she agreed.

* * *

That night the four researchers met to discuss the situation.

Ienzo looked around the room and decided to start the conversation. "I don't see the problem. It would not be hard to just change the programming temporarily to allow them to leave," he said.

"As usual, you are missing the opportunity," Even said. He then continued talking as he paced, "Lea brought up the point that Isa and Braig could invade whenever they wanted. Now two more people who can fight, let alone keyblade wielders, would be a valuable asset. Don't you agree?" he asked.

"They would never agree to it," Aeleus said with his arms crossed.

"Which is why we need to be clever," Evan countered.


	5. Chapter 5: Best Two Out of Three

Chapter Five: Best Two Out of Three

Both Lea and Kairi woke up around mid-day. Lea was the first awake and ready, for once. But Kairi was not too far behind. "Up already?" Lea said teasingly.

"Merlin would have both our heads if he knew," she said remembering how annoyed he got whenever one or both of them were late from sleeping in. It got so bad he enchanted their beds to toss them out after a certain time.

"No kidding," he agreed.

Then Kairi had an idea. "We should probably practice our skills a bit. Let's have a practice duel somewhere out of the way before we go see what's happening with the shield."

Lea sort of just wanted to go straight to the castle and move on. A few days after two months of rigorous training wasn't going to hurt them much if at all. But he knew Kairi didn't think that way she was always doing something productive whether it was reading or practicing spells alone. He guessed she was not content with relaxing anymore. "Alright, we can probably find somewhere on the way," he agreed.

Halfway between the town and the castle they went off the main trail some ways to an empty location. It had a few scattered trees but for the most part, it was clear. "This looks like a good area," she said.

"Alright, how about the usual two out of three?" Lea suggested. That was a pretty standard exercise they did where the first one to land two attacks physically or with magic won.

"Fair enough," she said.

They faced each other about four feet apart and summoned their keyblades at the same time. They both stared at the other. Lea twirled his Keyblade between his figures; Kairi watched his movements. Lea was the first to move in doing a horizontal slash and the second he felt it was blocked he switched to a vertical slash. This was also stopped.

Kairi knew she could not stay on the defensive long after blocking the third swing. She had better form than she used to with her keyblade but Lea was still faster. She jumped back casting a blizzard spell at the same time.

Lea barely had time to reflected the spell. He hated ice magic. Even when it didn't hit it still chilled him from being close. Which was most likely why Kairi specialized at that type of spells. He retaliated with tiny fire charge. To his surprised Kairi didn't reflect it instead she countered it with another ice shard. Which made a cloud of steam for a second and another ice shard hit him in the arm. "Nice trick there," he said. He decided he earned that by trying to be fancy. But no more.

Kairi saw Lea run to run up to her and tried to feign and attack to the right and then go for the left but Lea must have predicted her somehow and blocked it without much trouble and used his strength to unbalance her for a second. Landing a light blow on her leg. He then jumped back to prepare for a final round. "How did you know?" she asked.

"Your eyes gave you away," he said smiling. If they haven't trained together for months he probably would not have noticed but she had a bad habit of looking where she was going to attack.

She glared at him a bit irritated at herself. That is one thing she reminded herself to work on. She cast thunder spell above and moved up. While he reflected it, she was on him starting an onslaught of attacks.

Lea followed her blocking each one. He was studying what she was doing seeing if he could find a pattern but after one attack forced him to jump back he stopped trying. They were surprisingly random. Then he went back in as quickly as he left, knowing she was more dangerous from a distance. He and Kairi both took turns blocking and attacking. It lasted a good five minutes and Lea decided to do something a bit risky. At Kairi's next attack he reflected her blow upwards and jumped quickly behind her and managed to get a hit off from behind before she could get to his exposed side.

Kairi saw he won and dematerialized her keyblade. She was breathing hard and her face was slightly pale. It's been awhile since she tried that hard she saw Lea was also panting slightly. _"At least I made him work for it,"_ she thought to herself. Deep down she was a bit disappointed that she lost. But she didn't show it and just smiled and said, "Good match."

"Yeah, was a close one," he said. They haven't had a duel get as heated as that in a long while. He looked at the sun most of the mid-day was gone now. "We better get going," he said.

At the castle, Aeleus escorted them to the same room they met in the previous day. All the researchers convened with them. Even began by saying, in a tone that sounded like he was reading a script, "Now before any rash decisions are made we want both of you to know this world is yours as much as it is ours. You are more than welcome to stay in safety and help with reconstruction efforts."

"No thanks," Kairi stated.

"We have rather unsafe business to get too. Now have you made a way for us to leave?" Lea asked.

"We do, just follow us and we can prepare the shield to let you leave," Dilan said.

They were escorted to a room with a giant computer monitor. Kairi figured it must be the MCP. She faintly remembered Sora mentioning it before. "Now we just have to make a few adjustments to the program," Even said not looking at them but typing alongside Dilan.

A blinding flash then entered the room and both Lea and Kairi were forced to shut their eyes for a few seconds. When Lea opened his eyes, he noticed both Dilan and Even switched sides at the keyboard and asked, "What was that?"

"Just a small glitch in the program, however, it worked. In about 10 minutes you should be able to go," Even replied.

They exited the castle and they saw a figure running up to them. Kairi quickly recognized it was Yuffie. "Thank goodness, you haven't left yet." She said panting.

Kairi detected a note of panic in her voice, "Is something wrong?".

"Yes, I think Leon is missing," she exclaimed.


	6. Chapter 6: Trust

Chapter six: Trust

"What do you mean missing?" Kairi said then realized how dumb of a question that was and followed up by asking, "How long?"

"Since this morning, we were supposed to meet at the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee's base but he never showed up. Then I look all over and he is nowhere," Yuffie said.

Kairi noticed it was starting to get dark they must have spent longer at the castle then she thought. "Alright we'll help look," she said and then turned to Lea, "right?"

"Yeah," Lea agreed half distracted. He was thinking about this new situation. The timing could not be more suspicious. Something didn't feel right but something else told him even though Kairi asked saying no wasn't actually an option to consider. "So, where was the last place you saw him?" he inquired.

"At his place, I'll show you where," Yuffie offered.

"As good as any place to start," Lea said. At that she led the way through the web of houses in town until they arrived at a small wooden house on a corner of a block.

Yuffie tried the doorknob and it was locked. Then she tried knocking but there was no answer. Lea examined the door it was a normal size door with a tiny lock. "I could break it down," he said.

Kairi summoned her keyblade. She then pointed it at the door and shot a small beam of white light at it and the lock clicked open. "Or, we can just do that," she said.

"Well if you want to take the easy way," Lea said slightly embarrassed. It was easy to forget Keyblades can do that.

They entered Leon's house together. Bot Lea and Kairi could tell there were signs of a struggle instantly. There was furniture knocked over and some shattered glass behind the door. Yuffie turned on a generator in the back room which turned on the lights allowing them to see clearly. With the lights on Kairi noticed a burnt hole in the wall. "Could that be from Leon's Gunblade?" she asked Yuffie.

"Yeah, it is," she confirmed sounding worried.

Lea swept the other rooms while Kairi comforted Yuffie about the situation. There was nothing suspicious in the other rooms, which was suspicious in itself. He went back on his knowledge of putting pieces together, which he used to do when the organization had him investigate new areas. He found a back door which was locked also. There were no broken windows and both of the doors were locked from the inside. That struck him as odd. He went back to the first room.

"Are there any more entrances besides the front and back door?" he asked Yuffie.

She shook her head, "Not that I know of. Why?"

"Well if there was an intruder I'm not sure how they got in if both doors are locked."

"One door might have been unlocked and the intruder locked it on the way out," Yuffie suggested.

"It's possible," Lea agreed.

They looked around a bit more thoroughly. But besides a table and desk turned over, broken glass, and the bullet hole there was nothing. Nothing that could link them to an intruder. All they knew is something happened. Eventually, they ran out of ideas and left the scene. It was late now and none of them had any ideas what to do next.

"Let's go back to the ship and resume tomorrow," Lea proposed to Kairi.

Before Kairi could answer Yuffie interrupted and said "Actually, I would feel better if you stayed at my house," she said.

Kairi nodded, "We can do that."

"Alright I'll show you the way," she said.

The inside of Yuffie's house was larger than Leons and was colorful with decorated quilts and rugs scattered around. She also had a lot of comfortable furniture. After a few hours, Lea was starting to get a bit bothered by her constant presence. He wanted to talk to Kairi privately but that was proving difficult. Finally, he turned to Kairi and said "Hey, let's check out the back yard."

"Sure," Kairi agreed and stood up from the armchair she was in. Yuffie did the same.

Lea stopped her, "Actually we have some secret keyblade wielder stuff to do," he lied.

Kairi looked at him not exactly sure what he was doing but decided to play along. "I'm sure it will just be a few minutes," she said apologetically.

Kairi followed him outside and after that he motioned her to follow him which she did. She wondered what this was about. When they were half a block away from the house he stopped and leaned against a stone wall. He noticed dark clouds in the sky and the wind was blowing. Lea decided he better be quick before it started to rain. He took a deep breath and asked, "Are you sure we can trust Yuffie?"

She gave him a bewildered look. "Well yes, she is a good friend of Sora's. Why?"

"The timing is odd. Literally the minute we are about to go she comes. And it's strange she didn't check Leon's house earlier."

"Is that all?" she asked. She had to admit that those two things were a bit odd but they could easily be explained.

Lea nodded.

"Maybe you should start trusting people a bit more, people like me," she said.

"What do you mean," he said genuinely complex to what she was talking about.

Kairi heard a thunder go off in the distance and the wind picked up even more. "Right before we landed here. You looked at me like you saw a ghost. I know it couldn't have been nothing." She stated.

"That's been bugging you?" he asked only to receive a glare. "Alright, remember when we started training and I told you that you reminded me of something?" he asked.

"Yeah, you said you didn't know what but it felt important."

He nodded and continued, "Well it was like that but this time I saw someone else for a few seconds."

"Who?"

"No one I know. She had short black hair and looked a bit like you though," he said thinking. He then felt a raindrop hit his hand. And thought they had better get back soon.

"But why lie about it in the first place?" she inquired.

"We were just busy at the time and has other things to worry about. Plus, it didn't seem to matter much," he said.

"You need to tell me these things. Maybe I can help and we need to be honest with each other," she said. It bothered her sometimes that she always had to second guess Lea. She didn't want to but he always seemed to be guarded with the truth.

Lea admitted to himself it was a habit he developed. He always liked to be one step ahead of everyone else and sometimes the truth made things worse. "I'll try Princess," he said.

Kairi noted that wasn't really a yes but decided to let it go for now and the rain was slowly getting worse. "And about Yuffie, we'll be careful," she said. She didn't really distrust Yuffie but at the same time she did trusted Lea's instincts. And something felt off to her too that she could not quite put a figure on.

* * *

After Lea and Kairi returned to Yuffie's and went to sleep the four researchers met in the Computer room. Even was sitting in a chair by the computer monitor and the other three were standing. They were going to decide how to proceed with their plan.

"That was a close one," Dilan said hotly

"Indeed, but not unexpected, luckily it kept them from trying to go back to their gummie ship," Aeleus replied.

"Luck had nothing to do with," Even responded standing up. "It's nearly complying with its programming to keep them from finding out the truth," he said and rubbed his eyes.

Ienzo noticed that Even looked more tired than normal. He hadn't been getting much sleep lately and last night he spent all his time working on the simulation. They already had a data copy of Radiant Garden in the computer memory but the amount of updating required was tremendous. "Still, they require a lot of maintenance and already seem to have suspicions on data Yuffie. Perhaps it would be in our best interests to come clean and let them out of the program. They would most likely just leave, albeit a bit angry," he suggested.

"A bit angry," Dilan said mockingly. "You, in particular, should know how ruthless Axel is," he continued and notice Ienzo ever so slightly flinched at the memory.

"I thought we agreed we are different from the nobody counterparts," Aeleus pointed out.

Even waved his hand. "True, but both of them are still an unknown. We should address the problem of their suspicions though. I'll program an adversary to distract them tonight."

"We did agree not to hurt them," Aeleus reminded him.

"I'll put in safeguards so the program can't do any real damage," Even assured dryly, stifling a yawn.

"I can manage that," Ienzo offered. He wasn't as good with data programs as Even but this was in his skill level and he wasn't as low on sleep.

"Sounds good, let us know of any trouble," Dilan answered agreeing for him and Even was too tired to argue. The scientist then disbanded while Ienzo stayed to work on the project.

 **(** **Author's Notes: As we are approaching the climax of the story I'm curious about your theories or thoughts about it so far. Also, I'm looking forward to posting the next few chapters, some scenes I already have rough drafts for.)**


	7. Chapter 7: Date Escape

Chapter seven: Date Escape

They both spent the night in separate guest rooms upstairs. The rooms were as colorful as the rest of Yuffie's house and the beds were comfortable but neither of them slept too well. Lea spent most of the night thinking of the mysterious black hair girl. Until it got to a point where it drove him crazy and then he tried running through scenarios about their current plight to distract himself but his thoughts always seemed to trail back to her against his will. While Kairi just thought about everything that happened over the last few days. She didn't expect everything to be fine when they came but she thought it would be simpler. Like a fight, that's what she trained for. But this was just confusing. First, it was the Planetary Light Shield, then Leon went missing, and now she didn't even know who to trust. And there was nothing to do now but wait. 'Waiting,' that seemed to summarize everything so far, she thought frustrated. But eventual exhaustion took them both.

They woke up late morning and walked downstairs both looking slightly tired. Yuffie was standing next to the staircase waiting to greet them. "Hi Yuffie," Kairi said. "You should have woken us up earlier so we can start looking."

"We still have plenty of time and you've been helping so much I didn't want to trouble you more," Yuffie replied.

"It's no problem," Kairi assured. "Let's just find him soon. Speaking of which do you have any idea where we should look next?" she asked.

"Well, I was thinking about that last night. Then I remembered something before Leon disappeared he mentioned investigating the Bailey after hearing odd rumors about the area. He didn't find anything but we were both going to look," Yuffie said.

"What kind of rumors?" Lea asked.

She paused for a second. "Spooky things really, like odd moaning noises and stones moving on their own."

Kairi nodded, that sounded suspicious at least. "Sounds like a place to start."

Yuffie led them to the Bailey which was located in the center of town. They had to climb up a stone wall to get to the area but finally reached the man-made tunnel.

Kairi looked at it before they entered, all sides of the tunnel were made of gray stone and the area itself looked fairly old.

Yuffie took the lead and they walked through the area slowly. The Bailey was dark with only some light coming through cracks on the left wall but they all kept close attention for anything suspicious. Nothing seemed particularly odd until Yuffie went around the corner and screamed. Kairi saw she was being dragged away by something.

Lea heard the scream and saw Kairi bolt around the corner keyblade in hand and rushed after them. As he approached he saw a huge white monstrous figure that was around seven feet tall and looked to be made entirely of strips of bandages. He also saw Yuffie behind it against a wall unconscious.

Kairi was cutting at the monster's right arm as it slowly tried to wrap around her. The material it was made from was gauze-like and the keyblade cut through fairly easily but there were at least a dozen appendages coming at her at once. She felt one wrap around her ankle and then Lea hit the monster with a big fireball causing it to recoil and she used that time to cut herself free. She looked up and saw the monster was replacing the burnt area with new bandages but for a second she thought she saw something else shiny in there.

After seeing Kairi was free Lea took the initiative and sliced at the creature's middle horizontally and left a giant gash at its side. The creature then glared at Lea and flung bandages at him from both its hands. He then used reflect which held them back for a few seconds and saw Kairi to his right; She was working her way behind their attacker. He then let the barrier surrounding him drop and jump to his left. He then swung at the next wave of attacks coming up.

The monster turned around to face Lea and Kairi got a clear shot at the creatures back and fired another fireball at it. She then saw the shiny object again. It was golden and in the shape of a triangular prism. The monster howled in pain and switched its attention to her and wrapped a part of itself around her keyblade.

Lea noticed the creature once again switched full attention to Kairi after being hit. That struck as odd. But he didn't think about it much and threw his Keyblade in a spinning motion at the golden object Kairi uncovered. It hit and the creature shrieked again.

While that was happening Kairi dematerialized her keyblade and summoned it again in her other hand to free it. She then quickly aimed a strong blizzard spell at the weak point and it shattered. The rest of the monster slowly faded in a green light made of numbers. They both looked at each other thinking along similar lines.

* * *

Ienzo looked at the monitor half stunned and half curious. The mummy he made was supposed to flee after taking a certain amount of damage. He did a quick look at the data to see what happened. The two fire attacks brought its life down to 94% strength. Lea's keyblade took another 40% off the life meter. The mummy's code to flee did activate then as planned but was destroyed before it had a chance by Kairi's ice magic. It happened too fast for the computer to register the exact strength of the spell but it was enough to damage the remaining life if not more.

"Interesting," Ienzo mumbled to himself with his fingers on his chin. Data wasn't exactly strong but that passed his expectations. Then his eyes widen as the bigger picture in his mind clicked. They saw the remaining data algorithms when it was destroyed. It probably would not take them long to figure out they were in a data world. He left to tell the others of the news.

* * *

Data Yuffie detected that the other program was destroyed and regain consciousness. She looked at the two and said, "My head hurts. What happened?" while rubbing her head.

Lea caught a side glance and a small shake of the head from Kairi which he interpreted as don't say anything.

"Some kind of monster attacked us. You were knocked out but luckily we managed to destroy it. Are you okay?" Kairi said.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Guess I owe you another one," she said.

"It is the least we can do after both you and Leon opened that cage for us when we first arrived," she said faking as friendly tone as possible.

"Yeah, but friends do help each other," Data Yuffie replied then saw Kairi draw her keyblade again and Lea doing the same.

"Well that confirms it," Lea said. He once again noted how sneaky Kairi could be when she wanted to.

Kairi nodded. "Yeah, but how long?"

Lea thought back rewinding his memory to when things started to be strange. He then remembered that odd flash in the MCP room. He clenched his fists. "The MCP room," he said bitterly.

Data Yuffie then piped up. "You both are talking nonsense. We have to look for Leon now!"

They both ignored her and Lea said, "We have to get out of here quickly." He wasn't sure what the researchers would do to them now they knew.

"No, no don't leave, please! Aren't we friends?" Data Yuffie asked with fearful eyes.

"Sorry," Kairi said sincerely and launched a beam of light from her keyblade. Lea joined her.

 **(Author's note: If you know this chapter's title reference I offer you a gold star)**


	8. Chapter 8: Seed of Doubt

Chapter eight: Seed of Doubt

The two keyblade beams linked and formed a keyhole. Neither of them were exactly sure what would happen but they hoped unlocking the program would allow them to escape. The ground started shaking and Kairi could hear Data Yuffie's continuing cries of protest. But then they stopped as the program froze. Finally, there was another blinding flash of light and Kairi saw they were back in the MCP room. She then corrected her thoughts they never left. "It looks like you were right, but why?" she said.

"Don't know, but we'll find out," Lea said in a cold tone. He was angry at the deception but more so the fact he fell for it so easily. He should have expected something like this and been on more on guard.

She was going to reply but then saw a dark portal open a few feet in front of her. A figure was emerging that she recognized right away with the long blue hair and the χ shaped scar on his face. It was the Organization member that kidnapped her after she escaped from Axel over a year ago.

Lea felt his whole-body tense up, "Isa," he said pointing his keyblade at him.

He shook his head. "No, the name is Siax. We chose to keep our names given to us by the Organization," he corrected giving Lea an emotionless gaze looking at his keyblade. "As I thought, you joined the guardians of light for a keyblade," he said.

"What are you doing here?" Kairi demanded.

Saix smiled, "Found another lost puppy?" he taunted addressing Lea. Neither of them gave a response and he continued, "I was here before you arrived, my task was to quietly destroy the Planetary Light Shield. Although it seems you beat me to it. Whatever you did to the computer appears to have shut it down, nicely done," he said.

"And you came all the way here to thank us. Should we be flattered?" Lea injected.

"Sarcasm as always," He pointed at Kairi, "Be careful, girl. That sarcasm is his way of hiding his true intentions. And your new ally would betray anyone to get Roxas back," Siax said.

 _"So, that's his game,"_ Lea thought and lunged at Siax to make him shut up. And then was blocked with a weapon that looked like Siax's old Claymore but thinner and only 5 blue spikes on one end instead of all the way around. Lea did a silent gasp of surprised when he realized it was a keyblade and saw Siax grin as their keyblades crossed.

Kairi was taken off guard by Lea's sudden decision to attack. As their Keyblades collided she saw a dozen soldier emblem heartless being appearing next to Siax. For a second she was tempted to use thunder to hit them all but Lea was too close. So, she just used her keyblade to attack the nearest one.

Siax and Lea were pushing against each other in a temporary stalemate. Lea noticed Kairi keeping all the heartless off him and was thankful for one less thing to worry about but he still was slowly losing ground. He knew he had to change things up soon but, at the same time, he knew Siax would expect a quick dodge from him and be ready for it. Another few moments past and he lost another inch of ground and decided to risk it.

Kairi was picking off the heartless as fast as she could. Each one was destroyed in about two to three swings of her keyblade. She looked at Lea and could tell he was in a bad position and wanted to help but if the heartless got to him it would be even worse. She hoped he could hold on another minute. A part of her was also a bit annoyed Lea went in for a reckless attack like that. They were both still tired from the fight earlier.

Suddenly, Kairi saw Lea duck and side jump to the right. But Siax reacted too quick and landed a heavy blow to Lea's left shoulder before he could prevent it. Kairi took a fast intake of breath at the surprise and cast cure on him. And grunted in pain as one of the heartless scratched at her leg.

Lea felt the sharp pain of Siax's strike and then the immediate relief wash over him from Kairi's cure. But he didn't have time to even process being thankful and launched his own offensive using downward attacks that Siax could not overpower easily, which was moderately successful at keeping him in the defensive. Then the door opened leading out of the room and both Aeleus and Dilan entered the scene weapons in hand.

"Looks like our little play session is over," Siax said and disappeared in a swirl of black smoke while the two researchers helped kill off the last remaining few heartless. Then Kairi quickly made her way over to Lea and they stared at Dilan and Aeleus harshly, receiving cold looks in return. "So how is this going to be," Lea asked.

"That depends on how your cooperation," Aeleus answered.

Just then both Even and Ienzo came and went straight to the computer avoiding eye contact with either Lea or Kairi. "Back up to the wall," Dillan demanded.

Lea weighed their chances in a fight. They were both weakened by the previous fights but they still had supplies that would most likely be enough to get through this if needed. That said, it would probably be better to avoid or stall another confrontation. "Fine, whatever," he said obstinately.

Kairi complied as well. She was hoping this meant they didn't want a fight either. She notice Aeleus talk with Even while Dilan watched them. She then saw Even flinched and looked pale. She guessed he told him that Siax was there. She then felt her leg sting again and checked it. There were four claw marks on her ankle. They were not deep but it did break the skin.

"Are you alright," he said seeing her injury.

"Yeah I'm fine, not even worth using magic," she said, knowing even a small cure spell was fairly costly.

Lea thought differently and snapped his fingers. A small glow surrounded her leg and the scratch marks were gone. "Now, we're even," he said.

She then looked and saw there was no trace of the marks left. "You're getting better," she commented remembering how much trouble Lea normally had with even healing a small injury.

Even turned around from the computer, "The damage caused to the computer is extensive. It will take weeks for to repair it and longer still to get the Planetary Light Shield working," he stated loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I don't understand how the Organization knew and came so quickly," Ienzo said.

"Do you know what Isa was doing here," Aeleus asked Lea.

Lea shrugged and gave a quick summary of what little Siax said.

"That's not possible, he would have been caught by the cage if he came to our world and set off alarms," Even said.

"Don't know, next time Siax comes you can ask," Lea said sarcastically.

"And you admit it was you that broke the computer system leaving us vulnerable," Dilan retorted changing the subject.

"Are we skipping over the part where you trapped us in there in the first place?" Lea countered hotly.

Dilan was about to give a response but Kairi spoke first. "We will still have the same problem no matter whose fault it is."

Aeleus nodded, "What's done is done. We need to start planning for the worse."

Ienzo looked at Kairi. "You said we, does that mean you indent to stay?" he asked.

"Yes, I'll stay to help," she said.

Lea guessed that meant he was volunteering too. "Alright, no more tricks though or else we are leaving you to the wolves," he threatened.


	9. Chapter 9: An Understanding

Chapter nine: An Understanding

The researchers quickly came to an agreement to accept their help. Which came as little surprise to both of them. They then moved back in the main room and then Aeleus asked: "What can you tell us about the Organization that we don't know."

Lea hesitated in his mind for a brief moment then agreed realizing nothing they knew could be used against them in any way that he could think of. So, he briefed them on details about what they knew about the New Organization's plans from what Sora and Riku discovered during their mark of mastery exam.

Kairi was half listening already knowing this well and for the first time noticed Lea talked with his hands a lot. It was a bit funny. As she let her mind drift something occurred to her. Like dream worlds, what if data worlds could be layered and they were just in another one or something. She had to make sure and there was one simple way of being certain but she could not say her idea aloud in case she was right. When Lea took a pause in the story Kairi lied and said, "I'm going to get some air, I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Alright, but make sure you get back for the part where I save the day," he replied.

"Hmmm... maybe it will be a 15-minute walk," she joked back and left closing the door behind her.

She walked outside trying to act as normal as possible and rubbed her eyes at the change of lighting. She could not believe after all they been through today there was still daylight left. Kairi then quickly transported to their gummie ship with no warning and was surprised when it worked. She almost convinced herself it wouldn't and this whole mess with Siax was a trick. But it was real and for the first time she took in what that meant. The Organization is ruthless and powerful and they didn't have any clue what they wanted. She then calmed herself by remembering she wasn't alone and if Sora and Riku could handle the Organization then they could.

Lea just finished the part he was talking about earlier when Kairi opened the door and walked in. Which he suspected was on purpose and a mischievous glint in her eye confirmed it. He then quickly finished the last important points and then said, "Now, your turn. Siax was here for a reason. What do they want?"

They were all quiet in thought for what felt like minutes and then Aeleus said, "There is a lot of possibilities. He could want some of our research, what's in the chamber of repose, or maybe just this world itself for a base."

"Assuming it is not the world itself couldn't we just let them have what they want and leave?"Ienzo said.

Then Kairi spoke, "No, if the Organization wants something badly it can't be good for anyone if they get it."

"That would be your problem," Dilan said gruffly.

"No, the girl is right," Even said.

That statement surprised Lea. He would have thought Even would just want to be done with it. And by the looks on the other researcher's faces, they were surprised too but didn't say anything. Lea then decided to press the issue with that bit of confusion. "So, we agree giving the bad guys the thing they want is a bad idea? Good."

The other three researchers grudgingly agreed and Even continued, "Well, what they want is most likely in this castle so we should all stay in the area. We can get you rooms." he said looking at Lea and Kairi.

Lea glanced at Kairi. He loathed the idea of staying in the same building as them but it made sense.

Kairi thought about it and decided it was fair. They promised to help them and they did just agree with not handing the Organization what they want which put them in more danger. She nodded at Lea's glance

Lea saw her nod and just said, "fine."

Later that night Kairi went outside the castle grounds and laid down in a patch of grass. Now the Planetary Light Shield was down she just wanted to watch the stares and clear her head. She wondered which star was Destiny Islands and where Sora and Riku were out there. She also thought about what Siax said about Lea would betray them for Roxas and how reckless that made him. She didn't want to though it brought up other thoughts she tried to keep at bay.

Lea was watching Kairi thinking and wasn't sure whether to join her or just leave her to her thoughts. Eventually, he decided the former and walked up to her. "Still up, princess?" he said.

She looked up and saw Lea. "Not tired. You?" she asked.

"Sleeping in the same castle with people who locked you in a computer is a bit off putting," he joked sitting down.

She just nodded, actually with everything else going on it was of the last things on her mind.

Lea noticed she was being quiet and took that as a sign she wanted to be alone. "We'll I'll go back inside," he said.

Kairi hesitated for a moment and then said, "No don't, there is something I wanted to talk about."

"Huh...What?" he asked

"About what Siax said about you," she said trying to phrase her words carefully.

Lea shook his head. "Forget about it. It's just an Organization trick to get us to make people doubt things... or each other," he said hoping she would drop it.

"I know... But I think that's exactly why we need to. I know it bothered you and I don't think a question can really be unasked."

Lea decided to cut to the heart of the matter and tried hard to keep a frustrated tone out of his voice. "Kairi, he said I would betray you for Roxas. I don't know and I won't decide if I don't have to. All I can say is when I joined I meant it and we're friends but he's..."

"Your best friend" Kairi finished.

"Yeah."

She nodded, "I just want you to know if things ever change I wouldn't blame you for picking him," she said forcing herself to make eye contact.

He saw her eyes they were soft when she said that. "What do you mean."

She then broke eye contact and just stared at the ground. "It's our fault he's gone. Riku wouldn't tell me everything but I know we took him against his will and used him to bring Sora back."

He looked to the side. He can't say he never thought about that. It was more complicated but the personal sting was there. But he looked back and pointed out the obvious, "You didn't have anything to do with that."

"Maybe, but I still benefited from it... from your pain." She took a breath before getting to the part that bothered her the most. "When we started training together the first thing you did was apologize, again and again, for kidnapping me. But I never once said I was sorry about… Roxas," saying the name gave her a sting of guilt but she continued, "And it's not because I never thought about it. I think I've just been avoiding it."

"It's alright," he said gently and laid back. "You know, at the time, it felt like the universe was against us. But in hindsight maybe it was for the best. If Riku and them didn't intervene then we would have ended up like Siax if not worse," he said and sighed thinking about how much Siax was different than his childhood friend and now knowing why.

Kairi gave a mental shudder at the thought of that possibility. She wasn't sure if hindsight made it right but at least it worked out for the best. "I never thought about that."

Lea continued, "It's easy to envy you three sometimes and there is a lot of blame to go around. I could have of done better. But at the end of the day, everything wrong goes back to one pers…thing. And that's Xehanort," he said the story he told earlier fresh in his mind. Kairi seemed racked with guilt when she personally wasn't even involved while Xehanort didn't show any remorse for his actions. As far as Lea was concerned he had to be destroyed for any of them to have a happy ending.

She stood up and said, "Sora will find a way to save them all. We just need to what we can to help."

He suppressed a smile seeing her usual hopeful side take back over so quickly. "True enough," he agreed, getting back up also.

 **(Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took so long. I ended up rewriting it a lot. Also, I saw the new KH3 trailer and I'm hyped with the rest of the community.)**


	10. Chapter 10: Artificial Darkness

Chapter ten: Artificial Darkness

Lea was wandering the castle halls randomly having nothing to really do until the Organization decided to show up. Just pacing around helped him think plus moving made it hard for the researchers to know where exactly he was. He was pretty certain they were trying to keep tabs on both Kairi and himself in between making defenses against the Organization. Defenses he felt were pointless. After all, Siax alluded their traps last time but it kept all four of them out of their hair. They were working together but he didn't trust them and he wanted to keep them on guessing about him so they didn't try anything.

Kairi was in the library looking horrified at what she just read. She heard the library door open and slid a paper into a book at a little table area she set up. Then she saw it was Lea and felt relieved.

Lea noticed her face seemed odd like she just saw a ghost. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Close the door," was all she replied.

He did and walked over to her and sat across from her. Kairi took a paper out of a book. "Read this," she said handing him the paper.

* * *

 **Studies of Artificial Darkness**

 **Facts in case** : Heartless are born from the darkness in a person's heart. Every heart has varying levels of Natural Darkness (ND). Though rare this darkness can expand and consume a heart. Though, we've managed to manually begin this process, in the past, by injecting Artificial Darkness (AD) into test subjects.

So far we categorized and named three different types of heartless that are made by artificial means. The most common is soldier heartless. They are also the weakest. The next category is magical inclined heartless. They come in three types of elements; fire, ice, and thunder. The last type is a large body heartless. They are the hardest to destroy.

 **Hypothesis** : By injecting different levels of AD can someone control the type of heartless formed from a heart. Objective: Test the relationship between darkness in the heart and the kind of heartless formed from it.

 **Objective:** Test the relationship between darkness in the heart and the kind of heartless formed from it.

 **Procedure:**

Gather two sets of 3 test subjects with identical ND levels.

Inject varying levels of AD in increments of 5 units for both sets of test subjects.

Record data regarding the type of heartless formed.

 **Data:**

 _Group One; ND level 1_

Subject one: Injected w/ 5 units of AD; Soldier heartless type.

Subject two: Injected w/ 10 units of AD; Soldier heartless type

Subject three: Injected w/ 15 of AD; Soldier heartless type

 _Group Two; ND level 2_

Subject one: Injected w/ 5 units of AD; Magical heartless type (Red)

Subject two: Injected w/ 10 units of AD; Magical heartless type (Red)

Subject three: Injected w/15 units of AD; Magical heartless type (Blue)

 **Analysis:** The AD amount seems to have had no effect of the heartless type. However; both groups of test subjects have consistently generated the same heartless type.

 **Conclusion** : Our Hypothesis was proven incorrect. In forced corruption of the heart, the level of AD does not factor into the type of heartless. Though ND consistently has been the determining factor. We should continue this line of research with more test subjects with higher ND levels.

* * *

Lea skimmed through the papers. He already knew most of what was in there. Not the details provided but the general ideas. "They didn't just have this laying around?" he said in a questioning tone. he wished she didn't see it but it was too late for that now.

She shook her head, "No, it was in a locked drawer in a desk upstairs but you know…" she said and summoned her keyblade half way for a second. She took a deep breath and said, "They're monsters. They don't even care about those people." She then had a flash of anger in her eyes and continued, "Our help is the last thing they deserve."

"Do you want to leave?" he asked seriously.

"No… we can't," she said in a resigned tone.

Lea decided to press the issue. If they were doing this her heart had to be in it. "Yes, you can. You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

She hesitated then thought more clearly. What she read repulsed her but there were other people in this world to protect and they needed to stop the Organization. "I want to stay," she said a bit more confidently.

"Alright," he said. He looked at the papers. "Let's put those back before they're missed."

"Yeah," she agreed. She went back up to the library's second floor and put them back in the drawer. She doubted they would know anytime soon it had been unlocked but to be cautious she did relock the drawer using her keyblade again. As she walked back down the stairs the door opened again and Ienzo walked in. Kairi tried to put on a normal expression and kept walking back to the table.

"Good afternoon," he said to Kairi.

"Uh, yeah," she replied.

Ienzo who was never good at small talk decided to just say what he was thinking. "The other day when you defeated my data mummy you used a very powerful spell though the computer didn't register how powerful.

"Mummy?" Kairi asked.

"The monster made of bandages," he answered. He then continued, "Anyways if you have any free time. I was wondering if we could conduct some tests to…"

"No," Kairi answered a bit too hurriedly at the word tests.

He was a bit taken aback by that. "Are you sure it's not dangerous and it won't hurt," he said.

Then Lea intervened. "The answer is no. Now go work on your hopeless contraptions with the others," he said coldly.

"Alright," he said leaving the room hurriedly.

When she knew he was gone Kairi said, "They're scared of you." She noticed that before but it was more obvious now.

"Yeah," he admitted and changed topics. "But we need their help. Which is why you have to keep being friendly and naïve around them. They seem to trust you more after your quick offer to help."

"I am not naïve," she corrected giving him a shove half defensively and half to just lighten the mood.


	11. Chapter 11: Deception

Chapter eleven: Deception

Ienzo walked back to the computer room to rejoin the others. He kept running through what Lea said about their plans being hopeless. He could not argue with that assessment. Their methods were proven ineffective and the truth none of them wanted to voice or think was now the Planetary Light Shield was down they could be watching any plans they did make through the corridors of darkness. He also could not figure out what the Organization was waiting for. They were the ones on a ticking clock until they repaired shield. As Ienzo approached the room he heard what sounded more like arguing than progress. He then walked into the room.

"We are just talking in circles," Even said in an irritated tone. For the past hour, they've been just tossing ideas around just for them to be shot down by someone else. He noticed Ienzo entered the room. He looked at him and asked, "How are our _guests_?" putting a note of aversion on the word guests.

"They are both currently in the library," was all he said.

"So, Lea got tired of walking around like he owns the place. Good, I don't like him snooping around." Dilan said.

Aeleus nodded and added, "We can check on them again later. For now, we should continue preparing for the threat at hand."

Ienzo hesitated then spoke out his previous thoughts. "What can we prepare for? Most of what we've done was provenly ineffective and it's highly possible they would know of any new plans made," he said and was greeted by a dead silence that felt like an eternity.

"We can't just do nothing," Aeleus said.

"I still don't understand why we dismissed the idea to let them have what they want. It's the safest path." Dilan said looking directly at Even.

Even glared back and said, "There are too much unknowns. Our chances are better if we corporate with the keyblade wielders."

"And you trust them?" Dilan replied.

"Of course not, but they are a manageable problem with a known objective," he replied matter of factly.

Just then a dark swirling portal opened on the other side of the room appeared and a tall figure walked through. All four recognized him imminently as their old colleague, Braig, now known as Xigbar. He gave a sarcastic slow clap as he walked through. "Very well-rehearsed Even, now how about you give us the real answer.

The four glanced at Even confused and he just looked at the floor silently.

"Cat got your tongue?" Xigbar said with a smile and pointed at the four of them. "Hate to be the one to break it to you but your pal here has been using you from the beginning. First, Even persuaded you into making a barrier which made it difficult for us to enter and impossible for us to take him away. And now he's thrown all his hopes on the keyblade wielders and using you all as shields because he knew we would come for him eventually."

"Is that true?" Aeleus asked looking at Even.

Even looked pale now and avoiding eye contact with everyone just said, "I… suspected."

"So, the coward admits it. Lucky for you I'm a generous guy. Give him to me, with no fuss, and we'll leave you alone no strings attached," he said looking directly at Dilan who he pegged most likely to comply.

Dilan didn't move unsure on what to do. Some part of him didn't want to but Even blatantly deceived them and this was a chance to keep everyone else safe. He took a deep breath remembering hearts were a weakness and was about to decide when an alarm rang through the building. He looked back and saw Aeleus was the one that set it off by hitting a button on the computer.

Xigbar shook his head. "This could have been so easy." He then disappeared back through the portal leaving a group of neon shadows behind.

Lea was casually talking with Kairi leaning against a library bookshelf when the alarm filled the building. He flinched with surprise and felt all too familiar adrenalin coursed through his veins and almost instinctively summoned his keyblade in a matter of seconds.

Whereas Kairi was a few seconds slower to take out her keyblade while her mind was in numb shock racing through thoughts about what was happening. The alarm either had to have been triggered or set off by someone. That meant the four researchers were most likely in trouble. "We have to get to…" she stopped as a large portal formed at the door and both Siax and Xigbar walked out.

Lea felt his stomach turn slightly with memories of being pursued by the Organization lurking threw his mind. But he refused to show it. "Man, do you guys ever take a day off," he said while taking a few steps forward putting himself between them and Kairi.

Kairi saw both their eyes flash over towards Lea as he walked up and decided to use the opportunity to her advantage. She took a silent breath and quickly caste thunder above them both hoping neither of them would be able to dodge or reflect it in time.

Lea's eyes opened wide in surprise at the sudden flash of streaks of lighting over the area hitting both Siax and Xigbar. He saw Xigbar teleport away but Siax was left there stunned. Without much thought, he charged at Siax, while he had a clear chance, striking at his side and made contact.

"You're not as strong as you think you are," Siax said with his eyes burning with pure anger giving a strong broad swing in retaliation.

Lea easily dodged the poorly planned swing. "You're forgetting which one of us use to do the dirty worked," he pointed out coldly.

Kairi was watching for Xigbar unsure of where he was and keeping an eye on Lea and Siax dueling. The loud alarm was still going off. Lea appeared to be winning but she was worried about Xigbar knowing he had to be planning something. She then saw energy projectiles coming her way and made a barrier all the way around her body. But she was slightly too late as she felt an intense pain on her right side from one of the projectiles and heard at least three other shots being reflected towards the wall.

"You're a fast one," Xigbar said appearing in front of Kairi.

She didn't respond and just looked at him waiting for him to move first; he had a keyblade too. It was shorter than most. The Keyblade was a flushed red with three thin spikes on one end and a scope on the back end. She didn't like the smirk he wore and her side was still burning from the hit earlier.

Suddenly Xigbar pounced at her and released an onslaught of melee attacks from multiple directions. Kairi was keeping up pace fairly well but she could not get an attack of her own in.

Xigbar glanced over at Siax, while sparing, in amusement. He was not doing well as Lea was wearing him down and making him angrier which made his technic sloppier by the minute. As much as he would love to see how that ended he needed him. "Now," Xigbar said above the alarm.

Siax waved his left hand while blocking an attack by Lea and a portal was forming directly behind Kairi. At the same time, Xigbar locked keyblades with her and shoved as hard as he could, forcing her back and into the portal.

Kairi gasped as she suddenly saw the dark portals of the portal surround her and realized what was happening. She then saw more bullets heading her way and cast reflect once more as she saw the portal entrance closing…


	12. Chapter 12: Unlikely Connection

Chapter twelve: Unlikely Connection

"No," Kairi whispered out loud her voice cracking slightly looking at the endless gray void surrounding her. She felt her chest tighten in panic. The one thought that rang through her head was she had to get back. Lea was alone with Xigbar and Saix. This whole thing was her idea if Lea got hurt... She stopped and clenched her hand tightly around her keyblade in defiance. She couldn't let that happen. "Hang in there Lea," she said.

The next the few moments played in slow motion. Lea saw Saix wave his hand and knew he was trying to summon a portal. At first, he assumed he was trying to escape which was fine because that would allow him to help Kairi with Xibar but nothing happened. Then Saix gave an evil smirk which told him something was wrong. Quickly Lea turned around to see Kairi fade through the closing portal with Xigbar firing a few shots inside preventing her from coming out.

"Kairi," he said feeling his heart sink slightly. Knowing she was trapped unless he could get to her.

"You should be worried about yourself," Saix said while attacking.

Lea barely blocked the hit in time and retaliated with a strong fire blast as he saw Xigbar teleport away from his present location the portal entrance now sealed. That can't be good, he thought dully. The thought was then confirmed when he heard the familiar sound of Xigbar's projectiles from behind him and jumped out of the way. A projectile hit his shoulder."Ahh," he grunted.

With limited options, Lea backed himself into a corner between two bookshelves. No room to retreat but he couldn't get attacked from behind again either. Meanwhile, Saix drank a potion which gave him some strength back.

Xigbar quickly went at Lea with a downward slash determined not to allow him time to recover or escape. Both of their keyblades collided with a loud clang. Then Lea pulled away and slashed sideways forcing Xigbar to jump back.

Saix joined in the fight at that moment and he and Xigbar attacked from different sides. *uh oh* he thought. With half quick thinking and half instincts, Lea let go of the keyblade and summoned his chakrams. It felt strange using his old weapons but it allowed him to stop both of the simultaneous attacks.

"Resorting back to old tricks? weak," Xigbar taunted. He then pulled back and struck at Lea's already wounded shoulder in one fluid motion.

As Xigbar's hit made contact Lea's chakrams lit on fire and he struck a clean blow of Xigbar's abdomen. He tried to hit Saix too but failed as Saix avoided the chakram and hit Lea's left leg.

Lea couldn't help but to recoil in pain and immediately felt yet another blow. This one hitting his ribs. He was breathing heavily now and put some of his weight on the bookshelf behind him so he could keep standing.

"I'll finish this. You go on to collect Even," Saix ordered looking at Xigbar.

"You sure? You were not doing so well last time," Xigbar said and just received a silent glare in return. "Alright, but don't expect to be saved again," he said and vanished in a wisp of smoke.

Saix spoke first. "You had a chance to go back to a normal life but you still chose to actively side against us. There was a time where I thought you were smarter than that," he said.

"Tch, You haven't understood me since Xehanort tampered with you," Lea said flatly.

Saix continued, "Lea, you are nothing more than a nuisance to the Organization's plans. For that reason, we should destroy you." Saix then paused for a few seconds before continuing, "However, Axel may still be of use to us. If you stop resisting and come willingly," Saix said looking directly into his eyes.

"And then what? Have my heart taken over like yours? I think I'll pass," he said sarcastically.

"Don't be so stubborn. It's that or be destroyed. Give me an alternative," Saix said.

Lea didn't have a response but looked at Saix curiously. It's been so long he wasn't sure but for a brief moment, he thought he recognized his old friend's voice in that last sentence.

Saix then shook his head quickly and put his left hand over his face. "Fine, a traitor doesn't deserve another chance anyway," he said raising his keyblade.

Kairi let out a frustrated breath as her fourth attempt to open a keyblade portal failed. She was just wasting time with this and every minute filled her with more fear. She had to rethink what she was doing. A portal of light was obviously not going to work in the corridors of darkness. But the only other option was one of darkness. That was impossible though, her heart was naturally pure light and everything she ever read told her that meant she could not use darkness. Not to mention the inherent dangers of it... But at that moment she didn't care about the danger or what she knew was possible. She had to try.

She stuck out her hand and waved it like she saw others do. But nothing happened. She knew she had to feel something for it to work. With normal magic, it felt like transforming some of your will power into something physical. But as she reached inside herself for something dark it felt like she was grasping at nothing.

Kairi looked at the ground defeated. She was trapped just like on the Islands, too weak to help anyone. She shook her head not having time for self-pity. Lea was in trouble. The person she spent months training and having fun conversations with. Even though she couldn't read him half the time she knew he was loyal, kind, and her friend. "Please, What do I have to do," she spoke out loud.

Saix struck with a downward slash and Lea used what ever strength he had left and switch back to using a keyblade and parried the blow, however his keyblade was knocked from his hand, hit the floor, and faded. Then Lea another portal form in the center of the room.

"Always trying to stall the inevitable. Pathetic," Saix said looking at Lea directly with an emotionless gaze.

As Saix was talking a huge chunk of ice came from the portal. The ice block slowly flew at Saix's back until it impacted right between his shoulder blades in an explosion. Saix's eyes widen at the sudden shock and he fell to the ground unconscious.

Lea knew who it was even before Kairi walked out. But he didn't understand how.

After seeing Saix fall Kairi went back through the portal and ran to Lea's side. He looked to be barely standing. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he said reassuringly.

She just looked at him both relieved and scared as the reality set in on how close that was. If she arrived any later he would have been gone.

Lea saw she looked almost in shock. He decided to cut into her thoughts. "Hey Princess, I know I said I was fine but maybe some healing magic wouldn't hurt," he said with a small grin.

She blinked. "Right," Kairi said and held her keyblade up in the air and used what magic she had left to heal him.

Lea felt immense relief flow through his whole body. He didn't even realize how bad he was hurt through adrenaline until the pain faded. Some parts of his body were still slightly sore and the general fatigue was still there, but he could go on now. Lea could tell she must have used a lot of magic. That heal spell was strong, even for her. Come to think about it that ice spell earlier was pretty big too. But then his thoughts turn to What Xigbar and Saix were talking about. "Xigbar is after Even. We need to get down to the computer room," he said.

Kairi nodded and then glanced at Saix. "What about him?"

Lea hesitated. Everything ounce of his mind told him that he should finish him for good. But something in his heart was holding him back. If there was a small bit of his childhood friend in there he couldn't. "No time, let's just go," he said already knowing he was going to regret it.

"Alright, I'm with you," she said.


End file.
